Fence-post.



J. E. HUSSEY.

FENCE POST.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 26

Patented 0ct.3, 1911.

A TTORNEYS COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH :0. WASHINGTON. I). c.

JOHN E. HUSSEY, OF HAMMOND, INDIANA.

FENCE-POST.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1911.

Application filed October 26, 1910. Serial No. 589,142.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN E. HUSSEY, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Hammond, in the county of Lake and State of Indiana, haveinvented a new and Improved FencePost, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in fence posts, and moreparticularly to a concrete reinforced fence post of that class in whichthe wires or rods are fastened to the post by an interlocking means.

It has for its object, to provide a means, cheap in construction and theparts of which are readily separated, whereby the post is strengthenedat the point where the greatest amount of wear and tear occurs, wherebya neat finished construction is obtained, and whereby a positiveconnection is made between the wires and the post.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention consistsin the certain novel features of construction and the arrangement ofparts hereinafter more fully described, a preferred embodiment of whichis contained in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed outin the claims.

It is to be understood that various changes in the form, proportion,size and minor details of the device, may be made, without departingfrom the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures, and in Which Figure 1 is a frontelevation of a fence post, showing my invention applied thereto,

a part of the post being broken away to show the locking means; Fig. 2is a vertical sectional view taken through the post on the line 22 ofFig. 1; Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the post taken on theline 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view showing anotherembodiment of my invention, in which the reinforcing bar hereinafterreferred to is omitted; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan View of thelocking bar, reference to which will hereafter be made.

The fence post 1, which may be made of wood, metal, concrete, or anyother suitable material, is of any desirable configuration as thepolygonal shape shown in Fig. 8, but preferably having a flat frontface, and

has disposed on its front face a series of transversely-disposed slots2, sloping downward from the outer face. Extending vertically throughthe post is a T-shaped opening 3, the head 3 of which communicates withthe transverse slots, and the stem of which projects rearwardly towardthe center of the post, forming a groove 4 for the locking barhereinbefore referred to.

As shown in Fig. 2, there is disposed in the head of the Tshapedopening, a plate 5, having a flat raised portion 7 flush with the frontof the T-shaped opening 3 and having a series of offset portions 6disposed flush with the rear of the slot 2 and forming a bearing for thefence wires, thereby taking any strain transmitted by these wires offthe post itself. These offset portions of this sheet or plate 5 havevertical slots 17 the series of slots form with the groove 4, a guidewayfor the reception of the looking bar 8, which bar consists of a flatstrip, preferably of met-a1, having a smooth rear edge 9, and havingdisposed in the body of said bar, a series of vertically-disposed slotsor indentures 11, spaced apart the same distance as the distance betweensuccessive members of the series of slots 2, and a series ofupwardly-inclined angularly-disposed slots 10 extending from the frontedge of the locking bar, thereby forming upon the front face of thelocking bar, a series of fingers or tongues 12. The locking bar 8projects a short distance above the top of the post, in order to form agripping means 13 to allow the locking bar to be partly or whollywithdrawn from the slot 3, in order to place the fence wires in theslots 10, 11. The slots 11 are so positioned in the bar relative to itsfront face, that they will extend partially back of the inner face 14 ofthe head of the T-shaped slot 3, whereby the fence wires 15 will beslightly curved or bent transversely, thereby looking or holding thefence wires against longitudinal movement.

In assembling the fence, the posts are positioned in their desiredlocation, the fence wires 15 are placed in the slot 2 of each post, thelocking rod 8 is raised until slot until the wires rest in thelongitudinal slots 11, thereby firmly locking the wires in positionbetween the edge'of the slots 11 and the inner face of the slots 2, asshown in Fig. 4, or against the depressed portions ofthe plate 5, asshown in Fig. 3. Further, the inclined face of the tongue 12 constitutesa wedge to force thev wires 15 against the bottom of the slot- 3, if thewires should for any reason not be positioned in the slot 11. The slots2 may then be filled with any ma-' terial, preferably in the case ofconcrete posts, with the plastic material of which the post is composed,thereby forming a rigidly locked wire-fastening and the post having aneat external appearance.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this inven tion could be madewithout departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that allmatters contained herein in the above description or shown in theaccompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense. It is also to be understood that the language used inthe following claims is merely intended to cover all the generic andspecific features of the invention herein described and all statementsof the scope of the invention, which,

as a matter of language, might be said to' fall therebetween and thatmaterials, sizes and relativitiesof parts are nonessential,

except as called for in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. In a fence post having transverselydisposed slots, fence wiresdisposed in said slots, and a locking bar movable vertically in saidpost, said locking bar having tongues withinclined faces adapted toforce parts of said wires against the sides of said slots, to

place the same under tension, said locking bar having a slot extendinglongitudinally from said tongue to recelve sald wire.

2. In a fence post havlng a transverse slot, a fence wire, and a lockingbar adapted to engage said wire, said bar having an upwardlyandinwardly-inclined slot or indenture extending from the outer face ofsaid bar and having an upwardly-inclined recess opening into said slotto receive the wire, whereby said fence wire is locked bctween the sidesof the upwardly-inclined slot and the face of the transverse slot.

3. In a fence post, a T-shaped verticall disposed opening, a locking bardisposed in the stem of said 0 ening, tongues on said bar extending intot e head of said opening, said tongues having beveled rear edges, andfence wires disposed in the rear of said tongues, whereby the fencewires are fastened between the rear surface of said head and the bevelededge, by a vertical adjustment of the locking bar.

4:. In a post construction, a post having a series of transverse slotsadapted to receive fence wires, and having a longitudinal openingcommunicating with said slots, and a plate within said opening having adepressed portion registering with said transverse slots.

5. In a post construction, a T-shaped vertically-disposed opening, ametallic plate disposed in the head of said opening, a 1011- gitudinalslot in said plate adapted to register with the stem of said T-shapedopenmg to form a guideway, and a locking bar disposed in said guideway.

6. In a locking bar for fence construction, a bar having a smooth rearedge and a series of tongues on the front edge formed by a series oflongitudinally-extendin slots, and a series of angularly-disposed sIotsor indentures connecting the front face of the bar with saidlone'itudinally-extending slots.

In testimony whereof I have signed my Copies of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,Washington, D. G.

